Indigo Incite (The Indigo Trilogy) (7 page)

Liliana
was silent for a moment. She sensed his sincerity and wished that it wasn’t
dark so that she could see his aura.

Without
thinking, she grabbed his pillow and swung her legs over the side of the bed,
bringing her feet to rest on the rough, threadbare motel carpet. Then she
silently made her way to the sofa and knelt on the floor. She lifted his arm
and secured the pillow beneath it. With her hand still on his arm, she gave it
a gentle squeeze and whispered, “Here ya go.”

“What’s
this for?” he whispered back.

“Maybe I
felt sorry for you.”

“Oh, so
my trick worked? You bought my poor, poor, pitiful me story?”

“What?”
She snagged the pillow from under his arm and smacked it on his head. Then, she
turned toward her bed.

He
laughed and caught hold of her wrist to stop her. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. He
tugged on her wrist to pull her down to the floor and then sat up on the sofa.
He reached out for her other wrist and held both of her hands in his. The
lighting was dim, but she could vaguely see that he had taken his shirt off.
She could see the outline of his broad shoulders and muscular arms. His large
hands held hers with a firm grip.

“I’m
sorry,” he whispered again. “Everything I told you is true. Other than my
brother, I have no family to speak of. And I swear I didn’t do anything wrong
to get sent to military school.”

“Well,
if you did something wrong or not, it doesn’t matter to me.”

“It
matters to me that you believe me.”

“Why?”

“Because…I
li—Because I’d like us to be friends.”

“I’d
like us to be friends, too.” She wondered what he had been going to say.
Because I like you? She pushed the thought aside.

He
squeezed her hands and then released them. “You’d better get some sleep.”

“You
too. Sleep good…on the
sofa
.” She laughed softly and then hurried to
crawl back under the warm blankets.

Sweet
dreams
, Tyler
thought.

Same
to you
, she thought
back. As she drifted off to sleep, visions of a shirtless Tyler lying alone on
the sofa, were the last images to float through her mind.

*****

“Toby
contacted me last night while you were sleeping,” Tyler informed them, in the
morning. “The final name on the list is a girl named Grace. She lives in Salt
Lake City.”

“Salt
Lake, huh?” said Eddie. “Well then, I guess we'll go meet Sarah, this morning
and then we’ll head back to the airport.”

“Well
then, rise and shine, boys,” Liliana said. “It sounds like we have a fun day in
store.” She glanced at Tyler and thought back to their conversation from the
night before. In the moment, when he had held her hands, she had felt as though
they had shared an emotional connection. She wondered how he would act around
her this morning. She knew that he had to focus on finding his brother. Would
he pretend that last night had never happened? She sighed. Only time would
tell.

*****

The
sunshine that had embraced the previous day was gone. In return, their morning
was welcomed by thick clouds and a new wave of cold that seemed to declare that
snow would soon be upon them.

Liliana
stepped out to the sidewalk and held her palm up to the air. She wasn’t sure if
it was from the fog or if it was actually starting to snow, but a few small,
white flakes fell onto her outstretched hand.

She took
a deep breath of the fresh mountain air and looked around. Her senses were
filled with lush evergreens and damp, foggy air. The fog that had set in
overnight seemed to envelop them. It felt as though ice crystals crawled on her
exposed skin, crept down her coat, and up her pant leg.

“Right
now, I’m all about getting out of the cold,” Tyler said. “I say we head over to
the restaurant, get some food, and see if Sarah’s working yet.”

Liliana
turned to Tyler. “What are we going to say to her?”

“I don’t
know. I guess the same thing we told you. We’ll just explain to her who we are
and what we’re doing here.”

“And
what if she thinks we’re a bunch of freaks and won’t come with us? What then?”

Tyler
was silent for a moment as he stared at the restaurant. It was kitty-corner
from their motel room, on the other side of the dirt parking lot. “I don’t
know. I don’t want to think about that possibility. We need her. Toby was
insistent that it would take all of us to find him. He also said that his
kidnappers are on their way, here. If she doesn’t come with us, they’re sure to
find her. Then what?

He
stared out across the parking lot for a moment, as though in deep thought and
then shook his head. “No, she has to come with us. I can’t think of any other
option, so let’s go and get this over with.” He headed down the sidewalk,
toward the restaurant, and Liliana and Eddie followed behind.

They had
walked only a few feet when Liliana noticed a blue four-door sedan in the
parking lot. There was nothing particularly unusual about the car, but it
seemed to stand out from the other vehicles. As she neared the car, it suddenly
seemed brighter. She continued to stare and was overcome with a sense of
dizziness. She grabbed on to Eddie’s arm to steady herself. “Stop for a
second,” she said.

Eddie
and Tyler halted mid-step and turned to look at her. As they did so, they
followed her gaze to the car that had attracted her attention.

“What is
it?” Eddie asked.

Tyler
walked back and stopped by her side. “What’s up? I’m still freezing. Is this
something that we can talk about once we get inside?”

 “Something’s
wrong. That car…”

Eddie
looked at the vehicle in question. “You have a bad feeling about it?”

“Not
necessarily a feeling. I’m not psychic. It’s just that…Well, remember I said
that I can see auras?”

“Yeah,”
Eddie said, slowly. “Do cars have auras?”

“Well,
sort of…Sometimes they do.

“I
thought it was just people or living things that have auras,” Tyler said.

“Not
really,” Liliana began. “Auras are just a reflection of energy fields, and
everything has an energy field, including inanimate objects. Inanimate objects
give off a different sort of aura though. Their auras are more influenced by
recent human contact. So, sometimes I get visions of auras from things like
cars, or even jackets, or jewelry, and other times I don’t. It just depends how
recently someone has been attached to it and what sort of emotion is connected
to the object.”

“That’s
all fascinating,” Tyler said, “but long story short, what does this have to do
with that car?” His nose and ears had turned bright red from the cold, and he
tapped his foot, impatiently.

Liliana
smiled, amused at his physical discomfort. Tyler came across as strong and
invincible. His intolerance to the cold made him seem vulnerable. She found his
weakness to be cute, in an odd sort of way, and her attraction for him grew.

 She
looked back and forth from Eddie to Tyler. “Long story short? Simply put, that
car has a bad aura. It stands out from all of the other cars in the parking
lot. Something is definitely not right. Whoever has been in this car recently
is not a good person.”

Eddie
looked from the car back to her and frowned. “You think it might be the people
who took Tyler’s brother?”

Liliana
met his gaze and shrugged. “Could be. I don’t know. Like I said, I’m not
psychic. I just see energy. And this car has some bad energy around it. If we
walk in there and the kidnappers are already there…”

“We’re
screwed,” Tyler concluded for her. “But, what choice do we have? We’ve come all
this way to find Sarah. We don’t know for sure that the car belongs to the
kidnappers. It could belong to any number of bad people who happen to be here,
right?”

“Yeah,
it could be anyone, but what if it’s not?”

“I’ll
go,” Eddie said.

Tyler
turned to him. “
You’ll
go? What about us?”

“You and
Liliana should go back to the room and wait. I’ll find Sarah and talk to her.
Then I can bring some breakfast back to the room for you.”

“Why do
you get to go? Toby’s
my
brother. I’ve come all this way to help him.”

“I
know,” Eddie said, patiently. “And it’s not going to do him or any of us any
good if you get taken. The kidnappers know what you look like. You’re the
spitting image of your brother. Chances are they don’t know what I look like.
I’m safer. If they see you, they’ll be onto us. But, if I go in by myself, we
might still have a chance.”

“You
shouldn’t go alone,” Liliana said. “They probably don’t know what I look like,
either. Let me go with you. Sarah might be more likely to listen to a girl,
than some single guy. She might just think that you’re trying to hit on her.”

Eddie
smiled. “She might, but it’s not worth jeopardizing your safety. Your parents
are already going to be upset enough, if they find out that you’ve run away
with me. If you get kidnapped under my supervision—”

Liliana
took a step back. “Excuse me? Your
supervision
? I am
not
a little
girl!”

“No,
you’re not. But I am eighteen and you’re under age, which means I would be held
responsible if anything should happen to you.”

“I see
your point. I do. But you still need me. We’re all in this together, for better
or worse. If we’re going to succeed, we’re going to have to help each other,
however we can. I agree. Tyler should stay in the room so he’s not recognized,
but I can help. You can’t hear thoughts—I can. If the kidnappers are in the
restaurant, I should be able to hear their thoughts and spot them out before
it’s too late.”

She
frowned, folded her arms, and looked up at Eddie. He was at least a foot
taller, but she stood her ground and fixed her best look of determination. She
knew he didn’t want to put her in danger, but he had to know that she had a
valid point. The kidnappers could be anyone. He could sit right next to them
and wouldn’t have a clue.

With
obvious reluctance, Eddie said, “All right, you can come. But you have to
promise to stay alert and pay attention.”

“I
will.”

He
reached into his pocket and handed Tyler a room key. “Here ya go. Go back to
the room and wait. Put the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on the door and don’t answer
it for anyone.”

Tyler
frowned and with a deep sigh said, “Fine, but you’d better bring me back
something to eat. I could go for some pancakes or a breakfast burrito.”

Eddie
smiled. “I’ll see what I can do. I’ve got my phone. Call me if anything’s wrong
or if you see anyone suspicious.”

“Don’t
worry about me. I’ll stay hidden in the room, with the curtains closed. Just
don’t take too long, okay?”

“No
worries. We’ll grab a quick bite to eat, talk with Sarah if she’s there, and
we’ll be back.”

“With my
food,” Tyler reminded him.

“With
your food,” Eddie said with a chuckle. Then he turned to her. “You ready?”

She took
a deep breath. “Ready as I’ll ever be. Let’s go.”

Designed
to look like a log cabin, the restaurant boasted old soda bottles arranged on
wooden shelves and a butter churn positioned in a nearby corner. The walls
displayed black and white pictures of miners and old maps of the area. Amidst
the antique, rustic décor was a six-foot-tall painting of Bigfoot on the far
wall.

An
inviting brick fireplace hosted a corner table, where they sat with a view of
the entire restaurant.

While
Eddie enjoyed the warmth of the crackling fire, Liliana listened to the
thoughts of those around them. Every once in a while, she would share something
she had learned about someone at a table nearby; otherwise, they sat in
silence.

“The
hostess is wondering if her boyfriend will send her flowers for Valentine’s
Day,” Liliana whispered. “She’s wondering if he’s been secretly seeing the
housekeeper from the motel.”

“Oh?
Sounds like a soap opera.” He looked at the hostess in question. She looked to
be about twenty and was blonde and curvaceous. He couldn’t imagine why any
boyfriend of hers would want to cheat on her. “It must be quite entertaining to
hear what other people are thinking.”

“I’ve learned
how to block out thoughts. Otherwise, it would be too overwhelming to
constantly have everyone in my head. And besides, I figure it’s kinda like
intruding or something. I mean, a person’s thoughts are meant to be personal. I
wouldn’t want someone listening to my thoughts, so I try to be courteous of
others.”

“I hear
what you’re saying. Still, at certain times, it’s gotta be useful to hear what
other people are thinking.”

“Oh, it
is for sure. I can tell if a teacher is serious when he says we’d better listen
because the lecture is going to be on the test, or I can tell if a boy likes me
or not.”

“Like
Tyler.” He continued to look straight ahead, surveying the restaurant crowd,
but his slight grin revealed his amusement.

 “What’s
that supposed to mean?”

“I think
you know.” He glanced sideways at her and smiled, again. Then he turned his
gaze back to the diners. He continued to look around the restaurant as he spoke
quietly. “I can’t hear what you two are thinking, but it’s obvious that you’re
into each other. I heard the giggles last night.”

Liliana
smiled. “It’s that obvious, huh? You’re right; I do like him. And I know that
he likes me, too, but he doesn’t want to lose focus on his brother. I can’t
blame him.” She was silent for a moment and then said, “It wouldn’t work,
anyway. I mean, I’m only sixteen, and we live a thousand miles away from each
other. Long-distance relationships never last. It’s better if we just focus on
finding his brother and just stay friends.”

They
were interrupted by the approach of their waitress. “I’m so sorry about the
wait,” she said. “It’s crazy here this morning with this Bigfoot convention in
town.”

Their
waitress, who appeared to be about twenty, had shoulder-length, auburn red
hair, and sparkling, crystal green eyes, and for a moment, Eddie forgot about
Jenna and Toby and kidnappers. He was simply captivated by her dazzling smile.

And
then, he realized that Liliana was nudging his arm. “I ordered,” she said,
sweetly but pointedly. “It’s your turn…Eddie?”

“Oh, um,
yeah.” He flipped the menu open, upside down. He had known what he wanted to
order for the past ten minutes, but suddenly all thoughts of food were
forgotten.

He heard
Liliana chuckle under her breath but didn’t look at her.

In an
attempt to sound confident, he finally said, “I’ll have the French toast and
bacon.”

“All right,
I’ll put your order right in. My name’s Sarah by the way. Is there anything
else I can get for you while you wait? Would you like a refill on your drinks?”

Eddie
made immediate eye contact with Liliana. For the first time, he wished that he
had the ability to read her thoughts and silently communicate. This was Sarah?
Their Sarah, who they had come in search of? He had pictured meeting her for
the first time, had imagined what their conversation would be like, but never
had it crossed his mind that she would be so…so beautiful.

“Sure,
thanks,” Liliana said.

Sarah
turned to him. “Would you like another hot chocolate?”

“Huh?—Oh…um…yeah…sure…thanks,”
he managed to sputter.

“I’ll be
right back with that.” She smiled and then turned toward the kitchen.

As soon
as she was out of earshot, Liliana giggled. “Wow, you really like her, huh?”

“Well...”

“She’s
married.”

“She
is?” He wondered if his disappointment was obvious.

“Yeah.
And
she’s pregnant.”

“How can
you tell? She doesn’t look pregnant.”

“I saw
her aura. Pregnant women have a different type of aura. It’s like a golden
glow. You know how they say that a woman seems to glow when she’s pregnant?
Well, it’s because of her aura. There’s no doubt about it—Sarah’s pregnant.
You’ve fallen for a married, pregnant woman,” she teased.

“I
haven’t
fallen
for her. I just think she’s…pretty.”

Liliana
snickered under her breath. “Oh, is that all? Well, we need to think of what
we’re going to say before she comes back with our drinks. Do you have any
ideas?”

“I don’t
know. If she’s married, there’s no way that her husband is going to let her go
traipsing off with us, and if she’s pregnant, she’s not going to want to put
her unborn baby in danger."

“There
is no ‘if.' She
is
married, and she
is
pregnant. But if she
doesn’t come with us, she’ll be in danger, so maybe we can use a scare tactic
to try to convince her.”

“Scare
her into coming with us? I don’t know. Maybe it’s better if she stays here, or
maybe we can convince her to take a short vacation and hide out somewhere.”

“Well,
we need to at least talk to her, you know? Give her the choice and let her know
that she could be in danger.”

Eddie
sighed. “Yeah, you’re right.”

“Here
she comes. Time to turn on the charm.”

Just as
Sarah approached their table, Eddie mumbled under his breath, “Read my
thoughts.”

“What?”
Liliana whispered.

Through
a forced smile, he mumbled, “You heard me.”

“Here
you go.” Sarah placed new glasses on the table. “Is there anything else I can
get for you?”

“No
thanks. This is fine.” Eddie indicated his hot cocoa. As she turned to leave,
he called out, “Sarah?”

She turned
to him and smiled. “Yes?”

“I know
you’re busy, but do you think you could sit with us for a few minutes to talk?”

I’m
not sure what I’m going to say to her
, Eddie thought to Liliana
, but I know you can hear me,
and you can hear what Sarah is thinking, too, so if I start to fumble, help me
out. Okay?

Liliana
tapped her foot on his, under the table, and he knew that she understood.

“That’s
really kind of you to offer,” Sarah replied, “but I really am pretty busy. I
need to get food out to the tables or the customers are going to get
impatient.”

“I
understand,” Eddie said. “We were just hoping that we could chat with you
before we have to leave this morning. Do you have a break soon?”

Sarah
looked puzzled at his earnest attempt to talk. “Um, no, sorry. Julie is the
only other waitress besides me for the next hour.”

He
sensed that she was anxious to escape his pleas for conversation.
Any ideas,
Liliana? I can’t make her sit and talk with us, and she does have a point. She
has a job to do. Maybe we should just wait until she gets off of work.

Just as
Sarah started to walk away, Liliana called out, “Sarah?”

Their
waitress turned, this time with a somewhat amused but annoyed expression on her
face. “Yes?”

“The
truth is,” Liliana said, “we came here to surprise you. See, my friend, Eddie,
here, heard that your husband, Danny, was sent overseas with the military. He
wanted to check on you, to make sure that you’re doing all right. He
influenced
me to come along for the ride.” At the word 'influenced,' Liliana kicked Eddie
hard on the shin, so that there would be no mistaking her meaning. The night
before, they had shared stories of their various powers, and Eddie had told her
that he could mentally influence the actions and decisions of others. This was
Liliana’s way of telling him that he should use his influential charms, now to
convince Sarah to talk with them.

Keep
her talking for a minute
, Eddie thought to Liliana.

"So,
you know how guys are,” Liliana continued. “They watch each other’s back,
especially during times like this, when they’re sent away and have to leave
their pregnant wives home alone. Eddie wanted to make sure that you’re doing all
right.”

Liliana
was obviously using Sarah’s private thoughts to learn about her husband and
personal life. As she continued to spin her story, he concentrated on the
beautiful waitress and sent positive thoughts and energy her way.

When he
felt that he had complete concentration on Sarah’s energy, Eddie interjected
into the conversation. “So it would really mean a lot if you could sit with us
for a few minutes. I know that Danny would be happy to know that I came to see
you.” He smiled at Sarah. It wasn’t difficult to send warm thoughts her way;
just looking at her made him smile. He didn’t care if she was married or not;
he could still appreciate her beauty.

“So you
know Danny?”

“Well…”
He didn’t want to lie to her. Liliana had stretched the truth a bit and had
perhaps implied that they knew her husband, but she hadn’t come out and said
so. If they were going to get Sarah to believe their story, it would be best if
they stuck to the truth as much as possible. So far, everything Liliana had
said was completely true; Danny would be happy to know that they had checked on
his wife. “Why don’t you get yourself a cup of hot chocolate and join us for a
few minutes. We can tell you all about it,” he said.

“Well,
it’s very kind of you to come see me. Maybe later this afternoon, when I get
off of work—”

Eddie
tried to sound disappointed. “I’m afraid we won’t be here this afternoon. We
have to head home.” He feared that his efforts to influence her had failed, and
he conjured up a new wave of positive energy to send her way. His efforts
seemed to work, because in a moment, her hesitant expression disappeared. Her
face seemed to lighten, and her eyes twinkled in reaction to his smile.

“All right,”
she said, “I guess it won’t hurt to sit for a few minutes, since you did come
all this way to see me. Let me just talk to Chelsea, our hostess, and see if
she can cover for me for a little bit. I’ll be right back.”

Eddie
watched Sarah walk to the podium by the front door. She spoke to the hostess
and then both girls disappeared into the recesses of the kitchen.

Once
Sarah was completely out of sight and earshot, he turned to Liliana with a
smile. “You were brilliant. Thank you.”

She
grinned in return. “You weren’t too bad, yourself.” She stared at the fire for
a minute and then asked, “Did you do the same thing on me?
Charm
me into
coming with you?”

Eddie
shook his head. “No, not at all. But, then again, it wasn’t necessary. You
could hear our thoughts, so you knew we were telling the truth.”

“That’s
true…and I trusted you from the beginning because I read your aura. Good, that
makes me feel better. At least I know that I’m here on my own free will.”

Eddie
laughed. “Yeah, well, I’m not
that
good. I can have a strong influence
over someone, but I can’t make people do anything they don’t want to do. Sarah
wanted
to sit and talk with us. She just had another voice in her head telling her that
she should work, instead. I just helped to quiet that other voice, for a while,
so that she could concentrate on what she really wanted.”

“And
what she wants is to sit down and talk with us?”

“Absolutely,
otherwise she never would have agreed to it. Believe me, when I was a kid, I
tried to convince my parents to let me stay up past my bedtime and not make me
eat my vegetables. It never worked because they truly wanted me to eat my
veggies, and they couldn’t wait for me to go to bed so that they could have
some alone time.”

Liliana
laughed. “That’s funny. Still, I’ll bet you were able to use your gift to your
advantage once in a while.”

“Sure,
like the time I wanted to go to Disneyland over spring break. My mother kept
insisting that she couldn’t take the time off of work, but that time I won out
and talked her into taking us. Deep down she really wanted to go. It just took
a little extra power of persuasion on my part.”

“Nice,”
Liliana said and then glanced up. “Here she comes.”